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Taking a pratfall is embarrassing, so when a government agency acts as if it were executing a flawless swan dive but instead performs a big belly whopper, it would be hilarious if it didn’t have such serious implications.
In an effort that is best characterized as malicious harassment, the Department of Justice last month initiated action against an off shore sports book by requesting the Belize government freeze its bank accounts. The DOJ said it had evidence that Caribsports (www.youplaywepay.com) was engaged in money laundering and asked the Belize Financial Intelligence Unit to freeze the book’s accounts on February 12.
Carib responded by continuing to conduct business as usual, including paying out customers’ requests for funds, and by reassuring clients, “Their funds are completely safe and are being held in two of the smallest countries in the world, Liechtenstein and Luxemburg.”
Simultaneously, Carib launched a legal counterattack, “to have the action reversed and to restore our company’s impeccable reputation,” asserted managing director William Caesar, who is also marketing manager.
“This misguided and utterly outrageous attempt to tarnish our name and compromise our operational abilities will not stand,” vowed Casear.
His strong, confident assessment of the situation proved to be 100 percent correct. After the next hearing on March 4 was concluded, Carib released the following statement:
“All funds ordered frozen in our Belize accounts by the U.S. were ordered released. Our case has been thrown out.
“We won!”
With all the unresolved critical issues of the day confronting our government, including terrorism and anti-American violence, it is an ongoing puzzle why our law enforcement agencies obsess over initiating action on such bogus charges.
Yes, we said bogus. Sources advised us that the money laundering charge was not only fallacious but deliberately so.
The attorney for Carib, Dean Barrow, clarified the issue. He said a money laundering offense in Belize must conform to the country’s definition of money laundering:
“The whole thing is extremely unfortunate because basically the U.S. is after these people saying that they conduct an internet gaming operation, which they do from Belize … and for which they have received a license from this government.
“The same government, having licensed them to conduct an internet gaming operation, turns around now and in response to a request from the U.S. who wishes to prosecute them for the very same internet gaming operation, attempts to seize their funds and to shut down their operation.
“It doesn’t make sense; the government cannot have it both ways. And it seems to me it will have to try and sort this out in a way that recognizes the power of the United States, but that respects the laws that the very government has made and respects the license that the very government has conferred.”
The decision by the Belize court was notable because under statutory law, the government has a strong incentive to convict in cases like this, since it shares in accessing the confiscated money.
Here’s a friendly suggestion to the U.S. government. You have no mandate of any kind for this ill-advised campaign against Internet gaming. Give it a rest.
Once you have won the war on terrorism, captured bin Laden, rebuilt and civilized Afghanistan, ended the violence in Iraq and restored that country’s independence, then and only then may you dilute your resources by pursuing culprits whose offense — bookmaking, not money laundering — is the equivalent of J-walking.
Sooner or later, the U.S. government will be forced to realize that its moral zealotry in defining gambling as a vice is out of step with a majority of other countries.
Please send questions, comments, etc. to [email protected].
In an effort that is best characterized as malicious harassment, the Department of Justice last month initiated action against an off shore sports book by requesting the Belize government freeze its bank accounts. The DOJ said it had evidence that Caribsports (www.youplaywepay.com) was engaged in money laundering and asked the Belize Financial Intelligence Unit to freeze the book’s accounts on February 12.
Carib responded by continuing to conduct business as usual, including paying out customers’ requests for funds, and by reassuring clients, “Their funds are completely safe and are being held in two of the smallest countries in the world, Liechtenstein and Luxemburg.”
Simultaneously, Carib launched a legal counterattack, “to have the action reversed and to restore our company’s impeccable reputation,” asserted managing director William Caesar, who is also marketing manager.
“This misguided and utterly outrageous attempt to tarnish our name and compromise our operational abilities will not stand,” vowed Casear.
His strong, confident assessment of the situation proved to be 100 percent correct. After the next hearing on March 4 was concluded, Carib released the following statement:
“All funds ordered frozen in our Belize accounts by the U.S. were ordered released. Our case has been thrown out.
“We won!”
With all the unresolved critical issues of the day confronting our government, including terrorism and anti-American violence, it is an ongoing puzzle why our law enforcement agencies obsess over initiating action on such bogus charges.
Yes, we said bogus. Sources advised us that the money laundering charge was not only fallacious but deliberately so.
The attorney for Carib, Dean Barrow, clarified the issue. He said a money laundering offense in Belize must conform to the country’s definition of money laundering:
“The whole thing is extremely unfortunate because basically the U.S. is after these people saying that they conduct an internet gaming operation, which they do from Belize … and for which they have received a license from this government.
“The same government, having licensed them to conduct an internet gaming operation, turns around now and in response to a request from the U.S. who wishes to prosecute them for the very same internet gaming operation, attempts to seize their funds and to shut down their operation.
“It doesn’t make sense; the government cannot have it both ways. And it seems to me it will have to try and sort this out in a way that recognizes the power of the United States, but that respects the laws that the very government has made and respects the license that the very government has conferred.”
The decision by the Belize court was notable because under statutory law, the government has a strong incentive to convict in cases like this, since it shares in accessing the confiscated money.
Here’s a friendly suggestion to the U.S. government. You have no mandate of any kind for this ill-advised campaign against Internet gaming. Give it a rest.
Once you have won the war on terrorism, captured bin Laden, rebuilt and civilized Afghanistan, ended the violence in Iraq and restored that country’s independence, then and only then may you dilute your resources by pursuing culprits whose offense — bookmaking, not money laundering — is the equivalent of J-walking.
Sooner or later, the U.S. government will be forced to realize that its moral zealotry in defining gambling as a vice is out of step with a majority of other countries.
Please send questions, comments, etc. to [email protected].